PRESENTATION ON

METAL MATRIX COMPOSITE

WHAT IS METAL MATRIX
COMPOSITE?
A metal matrix composite (MMC) is composite material
with at least two constituent parts, one being a metal.
The other material may be a different metal or another
material, such as a ceramics or organic compound.
When at least three materials are present, it is called a
hybrid composite.
COMPOSITION
MMCs are made by dispersing a reinforcing material
into a metal matrix.
The reinforcement surface can be coated to prevent
a chemical reaction with the matrix.
For example, carbon fibers are commonly used in
aluminum matrix to synthesize composites showing
low density and high strength.
However, carbon reacts with aluminum to generate a
brittle and water-soluble compound Al4C3 on the
surface of the fiber. To prevent this reaction, the
carbon fibers are coated with nickel or titanium
boride.
MATRIX
The matrix is the monolithic material into which the
reinforcement is embedded, and is completely
continuous.
This means that there is a path through the matrix to
any point in the material, unlike two materials
sandwiched together.
In structural applications, the matrix is usually a
lighter metal such as aluminum, magnesium, or
titanium, and provides a compliant support for the
reinforcement.
In high temperature applications, cobalt and cobalt-
nickel alloy matrices are common.
REINFORCEMENT
The reinforcement material is embedded into the
matrix.
The reinforcement does not always serve a purely
structural task (reinforcing the compound), but is also
used to change physical properties such as wear
resistance, friction coefficient, or thermal
conductivity.
The reinforcement can be either continuous, or
discontinuous.
Discontinuous MMCs can be isotropic, and can be
worked with standard metalworking techniques, such
as extrusion, forging or rolling.
In addition, they may be machined using
conventional techniques, but commonly would need
the use of polycrystalline diamond tooling (PCD).
The reinforcement of metals can have many different
objectives.
The reinforcement of light metals opens up the
possibility of application of these materials in areas
where weight reduction has first priority.
The precondition here is the improvement of the
component properties.

The development objectives for light metal composite
materials are:

Increase in yield strength and tensile strength at
room temperature and above while maintaining the
minimum ductility or rather toughness.

Increase in creep resistance at higher temperatures
compared to that of conventional alloys.

Increase in fatigue strength, especially at higher
temperatures.

Improvement of thermal shock resistance.

Improvement of corrosion resistance.

Increase in Youngs modulus.

Production and Processing of
Metal Matrix Composites
Metal matrix composite materials can be produced
by many different techniques.
The focus of the selection of suitable process
engineering is the desired kind, quantity and
distribution of the reinforcement components
(particles and fibers), the matrix alloy and the
application.
MMC manufacturing can be broken into three types:
solid, liquid, and vapor.
Solid state methods-

Powder metallurgical processes pressing and
sintering and/or forging of powder mixtures and
composite powders
extrusion or forging of metal-powder particle
mixtures.
extrusion or forging of spraying compatible
precursor materials.
Hot isostatic pressing of powder mixtures and fiber
clutches
Further processing of precursor material from the
melting metallurgy by forming, extrusion, forging.
Joining and welding of semi-manufactured products
Finishing by machining techniques
Combined deformation of metal wires.
Liquid state methods-

In gas pressure infiltration the melt infiltrates the
preform with a gas applied from the outside.

The melting of the matrix and the infiltration take
place in a suitable pressure vessel.
There are two procedure variants of gas pressure
infiltration:
In the first variant the warmed up preform is dipped
into the melt and then the gas pressure is applied to
the surface of the melt, leading to infiltration. The
infiltration pressure can thereby be co- ordinated with
the wettability of the preforms, which depends, among
other things, on the volume percentage of the
reinforcement.
The second variant of the gas pressure infiltration
procedure reverses the order:
The molten bath is pressed to the preform by the
applied gas pressure using a standpipe and
thereupon infiltrates the bath.
The advantage of this procedure is that there is no
development of pores when completely dense parts
are present.
Since the reaction time is relatively short with
these procedures, more reactive materials can be
used.
APPLICATIONS IN
AUTOMOBILES
Some automotive disc brakes use MMCs. Early
Lotus Elise models used aluminum MMC rotors, but
they have less than optimal heat properties and
Lotus has since switched back to cast-iron. Modern
high-performance sport cars, such as those built by
Porsche, use rotors made of carbon fiber within a
silicon carbide matrix because of its high specific
heat and thermal conductivity.

Ford offers a Metal Matrix Composite (MMC)
driveshaft upgrade. The MMC driveshaft is made of
an aluminum matrix reinforced with boron carbide,
allowing the critical speed of the driveshaft to be
raised by reducing inertia.


Honda has used aluminum metal matrix composite
cylinder liners in some of their engines

Toyota has since used metal matrix composites in
the yamaha-designed 2ZZ-GE engine .

The F-16 Fighting Falcon uses monofilament silicon
carbide fibers in a titanium matrix for a structural
component of the jet's landing gear.

Specialized bicycles has used aluminum MMC
compounds for its top of the range bicycle frames for
several years.
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